Managing Your Mistakes
Mistakes are a painful part of life. To be human means to mess up once in a while.
Being a leader doesn’t make you immune from this. In fact, good leaders often make more mistakes than others because of the amount and impact of the decisions they make.
The difference between good leaders and great ones lies not in how they avoid mistakes, but in how they handle the mistakes they make.
When you blow a situation or stub your toe, you will face an array of temptations.
Hide it. (Hope no one finds out.)
Minimize it. (Excuse it as “no big deal.”)
Deflect it. (Pass the buck.)
Justify it. (Offer an excuse.)
The thing is, giving in to any of these temptations only exacerbates the problem. In fact, your response to the mistake may well be more impactful than your making of the mistake!
Your RESPONSE to the mistake may well be more impactful than your MAKING of the mistake!
What are you modeling to those around you when you make a mistake? Your team will be watching, and what they see will affect their relationship with you and the level of trust they hold for you, so it's important to get it right.
Here are six ways you can demonstrate great leadership when you make a mistake:
1. Normalize mistakes.
One of the greatest gifts a leader can offer his team is to legitimize failure. The old adage is true: We all make mistakes. Let this create a culture where it’s okay to mess up and to ‘fess up.
“If you want to grow, you need to get over any fear you have of making mistakes.” – John Maxwell
Creativity is a function of risk. And if individuals are afraid to risk because of the potential to make a mistake, they will ever and always play it safe.
Create a culture where it’s okay to mess up and to ‘fess up.
There is no greater way to build this culture than to…
2. Acknowledge your mistakes.
As a leader, few things are worse than realizing you made a cringe-worthy mistake. It’s embarrassing and awkward.
As a result, it may be tempting to want to sweep the mess under the rug, but now is the time to showcase your integrity by being upfront about what happened. Be the first to break the news before someone else does.
Insecure leaders may be afraid of looking weak, but not admitting their mistakes makes them look worse. Admitting your mistakes earns you the respect of those you lead and makes your leadership human.
“Making mistakes is better than faking perfections.” – Anonymous
Insecure leaders may be afraid of looking weak, but not admitting their mistakes makes them look worse. Admitting your mistakes earns you the respect of those you lead and makes your leadership human.
3. Own your mistakes
Great leaders apologize and take the lead in accepting responsibility for their mistakes. They don’t try to pass the problem off on someone else.
Even if you didn’t directly cause the problem or the mistake wasn’t specifically yours, as a leader, you’re responsible. Set the pace by shouldering the blame.
By owning up to your responsibility personally and corporately, you demonstrate a brand of leadership that is far too rare. And your team will love you for it.
Great leaders apologize and take the lead in accepting responsibility for their mistakes. They don’t try to pass the problem off on someone else.
4. Learn from your mistakes.
We all make mistakes. The question is whether you spend the effort to gain valuable insight from your misstep.
Failure is educational and even necessary in many ways, but that doesn’t mean you want to repeat the same mistake over and over.
Take time to dissect and analyze the error. What went wrong? Where did you slip up?
Once you learn from your mistakes, don't repeat them. Take constructive action to ensure they don’t happen again.
“All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes.” – Winston Churchill
The nature of great leadership lies in accepting risks, trying new things, and taking big chances. And the best leaders know creativity often means making mistakes along the way.
As the old saying goes, creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes; leadership is learning from them. Mistakes are among the greatest teachers, and working to understand your mistakes is one of the best forms of self-education.
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes; leadership is learning from them.
5. Teach out of your mistakes.
After you take steps to correct the mistake, make sure you put safeguards in place to ensure that the error won’t be repeated.
Then leverage your failure. One of the greatest teaching platforms isn’t in how to do something but in how not to do something.
When you make mistakes, make a point of teaching others what you've learned. The best leaders are the great teachers, coaches, and guides who show us the way after they have been down that path.
The best leaders are the great teachers, coaches, and guides who show us the way after they have been down that path.
6. Move beyond your mistakes.
You’ve eaten the humble pie. You’ve learned your lesson. You’ve done your best to remedy the situation and ensure it won’t happen again. Now it’s time to make peace with it, get your head in the game, and get back to business.
What happened is done. The sooner you jump back in, the sooner you can put those valuable lessons to work.
Your self-confidence may have taken a hit, and you may feel uncertain and overly cautious about moving forward. But don’t let fear and self-doubt hold you back.
Successful people make mistakes but don't quit. Learn to use failure as a stepping stone away from the past. And let it pave the way to the future.
Successful people make mistakes but don't quit. Learn to use failure as a stepping stone away from the past. And let it pave the way to the future.
“Remember that life’s greatest lessons are usually learned at the worst times and from the worst mistakes.” – Anonymous
The Everyday Pastor Blog is brought to you by our partners.
To support Dave DeSelm Ministries by becoming a partner, CLICK HERE.